Star Wars vs. Star Trek Fans: Who Fares Better in Online Dating?

Skywalker or Kirk? Millennium Falcon or the Starship Enterprise? It’s the classic sci-fi comparison: Which is better, ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Star Trek’? These debates range from a number of comparisons, like whose ship was faster, which was more scientifically possible and accurate, and even who the victor would be if the Federation went to war with the Empire.

Rather than compare more things about these classics themselves, I thought, what about the fans? What are the differences between people that follow the Force, and those who consider themselves “Trekkies”? How prevalent are they on eHarmony, and is there a difference in their online dating experiences based on this preference?

From a sample of about 100,000 active eHarmony users, about 5,000 users listed ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Star Trek’ as their favourite movie or TV show. Of this 5,000, 60 percent listed ‘Star Wars’ and 40 percent listed ‘Star Trek’ as their favourite. Men were more likely to list either one as a favourite, with only 26 percent of ‘Star Wars’ fans and 31 percent of ‘Star Trek’ fans being women.

Overall, the personalities of ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek’ fans were pretty similar, but we found five distinct differences between the two groups.

1. Humour
Male ‘Star Wars’ fans were found to have more sense of humour than male ‘Star Trek’ fans. This included their ability to make others laugh, enjoying jokes made by others, and seeing humour in everyday life. With all the ‘Star Wars’ spoofs on the internet, this finding really didn’t surprise me.

2. Politics
Female fans of ‘Star Trek’ were found to be more liberal than female ‘Star Wars’ fans (no differences were found between males).

4. Religiosity
‘Star Trek’ fans reported being more involved with their religious communities than ‘Star Wars’ fans in general. This finding was kind of surprising, considering Gene Roddenberry (the creator of ‘Star Trek’) was an active atheist and kept religion absent from the futuristic world he created. The ‘Star Wars’ saga, on the other hand, has a lot of philosophy and religious influence tied into the story. Also, the recent Czech Republic census showed 15 thousand citizens claimed Knights of the Jedi as their religion.

5. Adventurousness
This was maybe the most surprising. ‘Star Trek’ fans were found to be less adventurous and energetic than ‘Star Wars’ fans. This seems to go against the credo of either series. ‘Star Trek’ opens with the Enterprise’s mission statement: “to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” And ‘Star Wars’ fans seem to not be paying attention to the teachings of Yoda, who told Luke Skywalker in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, “Adventure, excitement, a Jedi craves not these things.”

Overall as a group, these fans were found to rate themselves significantly higher in intelligence and creativity than the general population.

But what about their activity on eHarmony? Does one group get more attention than the other? If you prefer the struggle between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire over the expeditions of the Federation, you are more likely to receive a message initiating communication from one of your matches on eHarmony. We found that male ‘Star Wars’ fans, on average, receive 14 percent more communication requests than male ‘Star Trek’ fans* (no differences were found between female fans).

So even though there may be differences between ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek’, the fans themselves are very similar and compatible. ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek’ fans alike should pay heed to George Takei and create “star peace” because, as we can see here, both groups of fans are like one another, and should be united against a mutual threat on science fiction, vampires!

Would you date a science fiction fan? ‘Star Wars’ fans, would you date a ‘Star Trek’ fan? Trekkers, would you date a ‘Star Wars’ fan?